Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Official Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Rally photographer Michael Lichter has sorted through the thousands of photos he snapped while riding (backwards!) across the USA, and they really capture the nature of the Ride - the endless miles, the sometimes empty expanses of treeless roads, the excitement of mountain passes, the continual repairs made in motel parking lots. If you'd like to see the whole, annotated collection, take a look at his website - http://www.lichterphoto.com/client/m120901-mcr-all/index.html

Chris Knoop and his 1925 Invincible-JAP; that sidecar was soon ditched (along with his passenger) as the gearbox/clutch was simply not invincible enough...

Do these fellows look nervous at the start of a 4000 mile ride? Well, yes they do.

Group photo at the halfway point; Sturgis, SD

Sage for luck, sweetgrass for hope...

Happy at last to be riding The Mule! Caught scraping pegs over an 8500' pass in the Teton Range...

Dramatic vistas in the mountains of Wyoming

Josh and his Craiglist Indian...which made the entire journey.

Bill Buckingham squeezing a little more speed through the mountains on his Harley JD

Harley JD crossing the mountains into Yellowstone National Park

Brad Wilmarth, the Cannonball King, on his 1913 Excelsior

Lake Lodge, on Yellowstone Lake

Claudio from Italy, and his Sunbeam 1925 Model 5

Jeff Decker

It was 25degrees F in the morning at Yellowstone; water bottles froze solid, and ice formed on leather jackets. The coldest I've ever been on a motorcycle...

Niimi on the 1915 Indian, freezing!

After leaving Yellowstone, the sun warmed us, and by the time we'd reach the Grand Tetons, all was fine

Michael Lichter making me look like a hero!

Andreas Kaindl from Germany and his Excelsior-Henderson, in the Idaho desert

A common sight; maintenance...

Another common sight; burned pistons!

Even the King must do maintenance...

Now more Invincible, the Australian contingent carries on...

Cool striped trousers, which we thought a wry comment on biker fashion...until we learned these fellows serving our dinner were prisoners on a limited work release!

Joe Gardella making minor adjustments to his 21st century 1915 Harley

Too many miles of this in Idaho...

Yours truly photographing Niimi at a snake-infested rest stop

Ah, California. Giant trees, twisty roads, warm weather

All those miles, to end at this corner. A helpful tree stopped Darryl Richman's BMW from exploring the further woods

The Shinya Indian crew shoving off before crossing the Golden Gate Bridge...

UPCOMING AUCTIONS:

Bonhams Feature:

Subscribe! Its Free!

SINLESS CYCLES!

Another Sinless Machine:

1929 Cleveland Tornado

THE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE MOTORCYCLES

Still #1 - 1915 Cyclone sold for $842k

'The Vintagent' on Facebook

THE STORY OF MOTORCYCLING

The world of Motorcycles has all the ingredients of a good, enriching drama; heroic deeds, political intrigue, design brilliance, cut-throat business practices, quirky characters, national tensions, cultural biases, eros and thanatos.When diving into the murk of motorcycle history, we find unexpected riches...everything which makes this life interesting, and worth living.Motorcycles per se are just metal; it is individuals who animate them, and inhabit the stories within this site. We provide meaning to the metal, and in telling the story of Motorcycling, we tell the story of our world.